Faradair® announces new R&D office at Swansea University

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Offering Welsh university students the unique opportunity to change the face of aviation, double award winning new UK hybrid aircraft manufacturer Faradair® is opening a research and development (R&D) centre at Swansea University’s College of Engineering under the supervision of Dr Ben Evans, Associate Professor in Aerospace Engineering.

This new collaboration gives Post Doctorate students keen to enter the aviation industry the opportunity to apply for an exciting aerospace research and development role in Wales. In addition, existing students will be tasked with problem solving as part of an actual new aircraft development programme, as opposed to simple theory for ‘what if’ scenarios.

The office will open with the new intake of students in September 2017 and will become a key part of the multi-role, 6-8 seat BEHA (Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft) development programme. Combining latest technologies with innovation, BEHA’s unique design and hybrid propulsion system will not only revolutionise urban flying through reduced operational costs and the considerable reduction in noise and emissions pollution, but it will also serve a number of alternative roles including unmanned operations, light cargo, patrol, tourism and regional air taxi duties. Dr Evans was appointed Chief Aerodynamicist for Faradair® earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Swansea University,” says Neil Cloughley, Managing Director, Faradair® Aerospace Limited. “We have been so impressed with the Swansea Bay campus, its new facilities and most importantly the enthusiasm that Dr Evans and all the team members in the aerospace engineering department have for our new aircraft project.”

He continues: “We have been extremely fortunate to secure a truly fantastic group of partners including PRODRIVE, Avidyne Corporation, Veale Wasbrough Vizards and now Swansea University, placing us in the perfect position to begin the ‘scale-up’ process of support so often described and offered by politicians and local Government.”

Dr Ben Evans says “Having worked for the best part of a decade on aerodynamic simulation and design optimisation for the BLOODHOUND SSC Land Speed Record vehicle; it is now a real privilege to be involved in the Faradair BEHA design. The technology and lessons learnt from designing BLOODHOUND are now being applied to this ground-breaking new bio-electric aircraft. The Faradair® BEHA has the potential to revolutionise the aerospace sector with capabilities never seen before from an aircraft of this size. I, along with my team, at Swansea University’s College of Engineering look forward to continued collaboration with Faradair® as we take the BEHA from concept design through to flight testing over the next couple of years”.

Mr Cloughley continues “This new R&D facility at Swansea University will enable Faradair® to fine tune the BEHA aircraft design and deliver the performance profile needed for the prototype aircraft prior to its maiden flight in 2020. We envisage this office will grow over the next two years, creating employment opportunity within Wales as the BEHA program develops”.

The BEHA (Bio Electric Hybrid Aircraft) is the brainchild of commercial aviation and former IT entrepreneur Neil Cloughley. He believes his new venture ‘Faradair®’ is evolving at the perfect time for clean-technology and environmentally friendly aircraft, resulting in a programme that is attracting world class, market leading partners which in turn is generating increased global interest in BEHA. In just 24 months Faradair has inserted itself into the new air mobility sector and has become the UK’s leading new hybrid aircraft programme, winning two awards in 2016 for new business development and Gloucestershire’s business award for ‘Innovation’.

Over £9billion revenue was generated last year in rail ticket fees, from over 4.5 million journeys per day according to Government statistics. Faradair’s mission is to provide alternative air transport opportunity that competes with road and rail, by defeating the primary objections of ‘noise, cost and emissions’ that currently hinder air transport use in a regional environment. BEHA is an aircraft that can offer a viable regional transport capability, reducing the burden on land based transport systems, whilst providing an efficient, faster and more exclusive way to commute and travel on a regional basis. Whilst many come up with unrealistic expectations of pure electric flight opportunities today, lack of power density from battery technology means the most sensible and viable aircraft solutions will be hybrid based in the short term and several major corporations have now cancelled their pure electric propositions, choosing to follow the ideas put forward by Faradair® back in 2014.

About Faradair

Faradair is a new aviation company based in the heart of the Cotswolds in the UK. This Cirencester start-up is working with a select group of partners to deliver innovative prototype aircraft and propulsion systems that are set for trials over the next three years. While the opportunity for pure electric flight is the long term goal for much of the aviation sector, there exists an opportunity today for hybrid solutions enabling the six seat Bio-Electric-Hybrid-Aircraft (BEHA) to carve its position as one of the leading eco-friendly aircraft types of a new aircraft generation.

The exciting Joint Venture between Faradair and Prodrive called ‘Hybraero’ is currently developing a new form of hybrid aviation engine that not only creates a propulsion system for BEHA, but it creates a stand-alone market opportunity to provide power for other hybrid aviation projects. The new Hybraero H600 engine is a 600hp capable hybrid propulsion engine incorporating a clean sheet design, internal combustion engine powered by JetA1 or Biofuel, with integrated electric motors for quiet, clean take-off and recovery operations.